Lytton refinery shares its safety secrets

As construction work on Lytton’s new diesel hydrotreater unit (DHTU2) was being completed recently, Caltex workers noticed that employees from one of the contracting companies used small generators and pumps that emitted lots of fumes adjacent to where people were working.

This caused concern. By Caltex standards, the leased generators and pumps were mostly outdated and many seemed to operate inefficiently. The contractors appeared unaware they might be exposing their people to hazardous fumes.

Lytton Safety Superintendent Rob Banks expressed his concerns with the company, which agreed to remove and replace the machinery with low-emission equipment that cut the risks.

“They were happy to do it,” says Rob. “All the gear was leased so it wasn’t an extra cost for them, and they were grateful we’d pointed out how their workers might be less exposed to a potential health risk.”

Such concerns are all in a day’s work for employees at Lytton, for whom safety has become a priority in every task.

Best-ever record

Tangible evidence of this new awareness was the refinery’s celebration earlier this year of two million man hours worked without a lost-time injury. Remarkably, it coincided with the presence of the large construction workforce building the DHTU2 – a $320-million project to increase the refinery’s capacity to produce ultra-low-sulfur diesel.

Work on the DHTU2 project, completed in June, threw up many instances in which Caltex’s standards and contractors’ work methods did not mesh. “In every case the contractors improved their safety procedures by working with Caltex,” says Ross Shaw, Operations Assurance Manager. “It’s helped them change the way they think about safety holistically,” Ross says.

Setting a new standard

One contractor, an international company, had a history of injuries when installing plugs on their piling machine drill heads. Rob and his team identified the plugs’ design as a major risk factor.

The company not only changed the way it went about the task, it changed the design of the plug as suggested by Rob and his team. “It’s now become an international standard for that company,” says Rob.

Caltex also found differences in what it and contractors perceived to be acceptable procedures when working at heights. Adopting the Caltex standard for the use of temporary work platforms effectively reduced risks to workers overall, Rob says.

In the area of dust control Caltex noticed that mechanical and electrical contractors used jackhammers on the DHTU2 concrete pile caps, after which they would blow dust away with compressed air.

“We thought civil contractors would have known more about dust control and the potential risk of silicosis,” says Rob. “But we worked with them to change their work methods, using the wet method or a vacuum process to remove and clean up dust.”

Proactive approach

Other safety matters were identified by Caltex before actual construction work began, and Caltex sought alignment with contractors during pre-tender discussions. “This helped make the site safer,” says Rob.

The proactive approach was extended to civil contractors who suggested Caltex use a process of vacuum trenching before excavating to identify underground services or electrical cables. “The equipment is non-invasive and deployed before we use mechanical methods,” says Rob. “It’s now standard for Caltex and contractors alike.”

In general, mechanical and electrical contractors were accustomed to Caltex’s systems, so the process of early engagement was seamless. Caltex gave IIF (incident and injury-free) training to all project personnel with additional training to supervisors to instil a safety culture in their work teams.

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